Future laptops could go completely cordless

The Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) scored a big win by adding its first major PC OEM to its ranks. That OEM is Dell, which joins an A4WP alliance that's over 80 members strong. Quite a few heavy hitters are part of the group, including Broadcomm, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, Fujitsu, HTC, LG, Panasonic, SanDisk, and more. The group's goal is to standardize a wireless power transfer protocol using near-field magnetic resonance technology.

Dropped Wi-Fi signals isn't the only thing early iPad adopters have had to contend with. Trying to charge the tablet has a caused a few headaches as well, at least for those entrenched in the PC camp. The problem, says Apple, is that some USB 2.0 ports and accessories don't provide enough juice for charge the iPad. And in some cases, the iPad will charge, but only when it's in turned off or in Sleep mode.

If you happen to own a recent Gigabyte motherboard, however, you're in luck. The mobo maker announced this week that it has come up with a driver update that solves the problem.

"Gigabyte’s unique USB power design is able to deliver extra power for devices that require more than the 500mA delivered from a traditional USB port. With a simple On/Off Charge driver update which can be found on the Gigabyte website, Gigabyte motherboard users are able to take full advantage of USB charging of their iPad, giving them more options and convenience when recharging their new device," Gigabyte said.

The driver works with a whole bunch of Gigabyte boards, including those for the Intel X58, P55, H57, H55, and AMD 800 chipsets.

More than anything else, battery technology holds back mobile innovation. Sure, we’d all like super fast mobile CPUs, but the 10 minutes of battery life we’d get isn’t a good trade off. Battery technology has, thus far, advanced at a depressingly slow rate. However, rechargeable zinc-air batteries could actually deliver changes next year.

A company called ReVolt claims to have developed a way to make zinc-air batteries rechargeable. The batteries use oxygen from the air to generate current. Also, they don’t contain any of the toxic materials that are found in lithium-ion batteries, which are estimated to only hold one-third as much power.

In sciency terms, these batteries rely on reduction/oxidation reactions between a zinc and air (oxygen) electrodes. By using new gelling and binding agents, the previously single use batteries can be recharged. They have been tested for up to 100 cycles, but could be capable of 300-500. Smaller batteries for cell phones and hearing aids are supposed to show up in 2010. If that goes well, larger versions for electric cars could be produced. Will this revolutionize the tech world, or is it just so much hot air?

You may not have to suffer through proprietary charging connectors on cell phones much longer. We’ve been hearing rumblings for a few months now that the industry may settle on the humble micro-USB as a standard for charging. A UN body, The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), has now approved the proposal.

One of the main reasons for making this move is the fact that 51,000 tons of unnecessary chargers are produced each year. If there was a single standard, consumers could take a charger with them from phone to phone. No word yet on how Apple would deal with this. Their proprietary dock connector has a rich ecosystem of accessories that would be hard to leave behind. Bundling an adapter maybe?

Malcolm Johnson, director of ITU Standards Bureau, said in a statement, “This is a significant step in reducing the environmental impact of mobile charging.” It will not be required for phone makers to adopt the new standard, but some have already signed on.